Dear Parents and Friends

I hope you all had a lovely long weekend and enjoyed our extended summer weather. It was the perfect weekend for the beach and/or pool days!! I certainly enjoyed the extra day of reading and relaxing.

Last week we acknowledged Shrove Tuesday with pancakes - Thanks Tracey for organising the pancakes! Shrove Tuesday marked the last day before Lent, traditionally a period of abstinence, associated with clearing the cupboards of goods such as sugar, fat and eggs. Pancakes were eaten to use up these foods before the 40 day fasting season of Lent begins. The following day we had our Ash Wednesday Mass with the students and staff receiving the ashes blessed during our Mass. A big thank you to Father Huy for celebrating the Mass with us! Thank you Jodie for organsing this special Mass.

Easter Colouring Competition

Last year we introduced our Easter Colouring Competition which was a huge success so we decided to make it an annual event.

The colouring competition is extended to our local community so if you have a neighbour or friend who may like to enter the competition please feel free to pick up some extra entries from the office. All entries will be displayed at the front office with winners being announced on Wednesday 2nd April via our Social Media page. We are hoping to fill up all the foyer windows with our beautiful colouring!

Easter Raffle Donations

With the end of Term fast approaching we are once again running our favorite event of the year - our annual Easter Egg Raffle. We are asking each child to donate an Easter egg, Easter craft activity or Easter decoration.

Send your donations in - we can’t wait to see if we can fill the foyer and make Tracey disappear behind a sea of Easter goodies. Your donations can start coming in anytime from now!

Raffle tickets will be sent home to families next week.

Easter Bonnet Parade

Get your thinking bonnets on! We would like you all to create an Easter bonnet to wear on the last day of Term - Thursday 3rd April. We will have an Easter Bonnet parade at 8.45am so the bonnets do not get damaged. Mums and Dad's feel free to come along to our parade in your Easter bonnets too!

School Advisory Council (SAC)

It was lovely to have our SAC Team together for our first meeting of 2025. School Advisory Councils are an essential part of our governing and operating systems of Catholic schools in the Archdiocese of Melbourne.

The SAC provides a forum for discussion and discernment. We value the parent voice and community perspectives. These inform and support the decisions made by the school, where the students’ wellbeing, and academic outcomes are paramount. All parents are welcome to attend these meetings.

Our School Advisory Council members are:

Allie (Luke Year 6), Margeaux (Torin Yr 5 and Liam Yr1), Alex (Juliet Yr 5, Pip Yr3, Theo Yr1), Gisele (Ari Yr 1), Hayley (Isaac Yr 6, Flynn Yr 4, Ashton Yr 1, Maddie Foundation), Kylie (Dash Yr 6, Kit Yr 5), Amy (Iris Yr 6, Harvey Yr 3 and Hamish Foundation), Lisa (Briar Yr 5) and Adam (Noah Yr 3, Lily Yr 1)

Dates for future meetings are:

Term 2:

Wednesday, 28th May 2025 (7:00pm)

Term 3:

Wednesday, 20th August 2025 (7:00pm)

Term 4:

Wednesday, 5th November 2025 (7:00pm)
AGM: Wednesday, 3rd December 2025 (AGM at 6:30pm, followed by dinner)

Each meeting requires a written report, including:

Principal's Report
Teaching Report
Religious Education Report
Fundraising/Social

Attendance

Attendance and Punctuality: Whom to Contact

A strong sense of routine and consistency is vital for student wellbeing and success. If your child is absent from school, has an appointment, will be arriving late or leaving early, please follow the School’s procedures to ensure their attendance is recorded correctly.

Absences: If your child is absent this must be verified with one of the methods below by 9:00am on the day of absence:

phone call 95804518 or
Fill in the Absentee Form on the Audiri App (Click on the Form Button in the task bar)
Record an Absentee in the Nforma App; or
Send an email to the office and to your child's classroom teacher by 9.00am

Parents are notified of unexplained student absence via SMS after 9.30am

Late Arrivals: Students arriving after 8.45am must sign in at the Office upon arrival. Parents we do ask that you come in with your child.

Early Departures: If your child needs to leave early, you must sign your child out at the Office. Prior notification must be sent via email or phone call to the office and classroom teacher so we can have your children ready for you to pick them up. Again we do ask that parents come into the office to collect their child.

Your support in maintaining accurate attendance records ensures the safety and wellbeing of all students.

NAPLAN

At the time of writing we have completed 2 of the NAPLAN test - Writing (Wednesday) and Reading (Thursday). All tests are completed using the Schools ChromeBooks except for Year 3 Writing, which is still handwritten.

Results will be received mid-year and an individual report will be provided to parents displaying your child’s achievement.

School Tours

I have been enjoying showing our amazing school off to potential enrolments for 2026 and beyond! Our school tours have been very popular and we are starting to receive enrolments already which is very exciting. If any existing families have not put in their enrolment form please complete them as soon as possible and definitely by the end of Term 1.

Before and After School

Just a reminder that we do not allow dogs on the school grounds. You are welcome to tie your dog up outside but they must not come into the school.

Parents, please remember that we do not let our children play on the playground before or after school. Riding bikes and scooters are not permitted before and after school. There are too many children, toddlers and parents in the school grounds and it is very unsafe. .

Whole School Excursion

I have some very exciting news. St Brigid's is going on Safari!!! We have booked our whole school excursion for Thursday 3rd July and we are heading to Werribee Zoo. The day will include educational experiences and a safari ride. More information to follow.

Assembly - TOMORROW - 2:15pm

Tomorrow's assembly is being prepared by 1/2R. We are looking forward the children sharing with us all that they have been doing since the start of the year. Parents are welcome to join us and the assembly starts at 2.15pm. We look forward to seeing you all there.

Term 1 week 7 - Running Club

Laps = 106

Km run = 5.3km

Total km = 759.2km

We are on the Hume Fwy/National Hwy in New South Wales in Berrima.

With House Cross Country only a few weeks away - Monday 24 March - Now is the perfect time to come along and get some last minute training in by joining us at running club.

Yours in partnership.

Wendy Sullivan

Principal

Community News and Events

Junior Rockers

St Bede's College

Kilbreda College

Mentone Girls Secondary College

Club Pilates

Mordialloc Auskick

Mentone Hockey Club

Australian Sports Camps

Parkdale Auskick